Stars and activists seized on the opening of the Berlin film festival Thursday to spotlight the #MeToo movement, expressing hope that rampant sexual abuse in the global entertainment industry can be stopped.

SEOUL - Growing global demand for building “smart” cities -- those built on infrastructure powered by information and communication technology -- has brought to the spotlight the first South Korean company to join smart city projects overseas.

Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has become the Kim Kardashian of Indonesian politics. Nearly a year after his upset defeat in the capital’s gubernatorial election and his controversial blasphemy conviction, the former Jakarta governor has never been completely out of the spotlight.

As questions linger over whether an election will take place as scheduled in November this year, coup-maker General Prayut Chan-o-cha has signalled the political game has already begun – by declaring himself a former soldier who is now a politician. That in turn has placed the military’s cosy relations with anti-democratic groups in the spotlight.

The issue of South Korea’s former “comfort women” forced into sexual slavery for Japan’s wartime army during its colonial domination of Korea has come to the spotlight with the release of a panel report on negotiations leading up to a deal with Japan on the matter.